Could drugs be cash crop?

AKRON-Pharmaceutical companies are looking for Colorado farmers to grow lifesaving drugs in their fields.

Growing bioengineered plants like corn and tomatoes to produce pharmaceuticals is on the horizon and drug companies are hoping local farmers will plant them in their fields.

To encourage

Chuck Benbrook, head of Benbrook Consulting Services in Idaho, was one of the speakers at the meeting in Akron. He presented an example of a researcher at Arizona State University who bioengineered tomatoes to produce the vaccine needed to protect people from Norwalk Disease.

"He just pureed the tomatoes, dried the puree and formed it into pills," he said. "This is an affordable way to make a vaccine."

Bioengineered plants are the most efficient protein producers in the world. Researchers are looking at using the plant's protein production capacity to produce therapeutic proteins. The plants could grow treatments for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening illnesses.